Gibson teams up with HDtracks for limited free download of high definition music

Gibson Guitar has partnered with HDtracks to offer free, downloadable, high-definition music - a first of its kind collaboration for an instrument manufacturer. The exclusive offering to fans of Gibson Guitar, titled Gibson Presents: Hot Tones in High-Definition, is a diverse collection of music performed by some of the world’s best guitarists and will be available as a free download at Gibson.com for a limited time.
Hot Tones in High-Definition features exclusive tracks from performers Johnny A, Michael Burks, Billy Burnette, Chris Cain, Nick Colionne, Tinsley Ellis, Eric Johnson, Peter Karp, Big Bill Morganfield, Kenny Neal, Arlen Roth with Sonny Landreth, Neal Schon and Johnny Winter plus a never-before-heard instrumental track featuring father and son team Abraham Laboriel Sr. and Jr performing with Slash. The entire album can be downloaded for free until December 16, 2008 through HDtracks.com.
Hot Tones in High-Definition is a non-DRM, high-definition download available in AIFF, FLAC, and 320kpbs MP3 formats. The download is available for 60 days worldwide. Consumers will have the chance to hear some of the world's greatest masters of guitar tone on a single disc. The project represents an enormous amount of passion for and dedication to creating the best possible high-definition experience for the Gibson consumer with no financial return to the company.
The free distribution of a high-definition guitar album is possible now because of the massive access of today's Internet users to high-speed DSL and cable services. Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz and David Chesky, co-founder of audiophile label Chesky Records are two technologists who, over a recent lunch in New York, combined their ideas and efforts to create the inaugural offering from Gibson and HDtracks.
“Gibson is committed to providing its customers with the most innovative and exciting musical experiences in the world,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “Gibson Presents: Hot Tones in High Definition will afford our customers the opportunity to download something in the highest of quality and is the first offering of its kind from any music company. This will be one of many such opportunities as we continue to partner with HDtracks on this pioneering effort.”
"I've never been a fan of MP3s and I wanted to have a website that delivered the same quality music as you'd get in a record store. When Henry and I met we discussed nine million things. He thinks outside the box, and we decided that giving the public an opportunity to download something truly different and in such high quality was not only an offer of convenience but the genesis of Gibson Guitar's next step into technology," said David Chesky, co-founder of HDtracks, the partner on this project with Gibson.
All the files from Gibson Guitar and HDtracks are offered in a choice of formats – AIFF, FLAC or 320kbs MP3 – depending on the consumer's needs. Both AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) and FLAC (Free lossless audio Codec) are uncompressed formats in which the audio data is not altered or compromised to reduce its file size during transfers.